You may offer desirable products, efficient customer service, and informative product descriptions, but if you’re not making Amazon SEO work properly for you, none of these other things will ever make a difference.
Knowing how to navigate and optimize your pages according to Amazon SEO will help your listing rank higher and increase the chances that your products will be seen by people searching for them.
SEO can make the difference between a popular product that sells well and a product that stays under the radar.
Luckily, there are a few things you can do to improve your Amazon ranking. This article will ensure that you have a solid understanding of the basics of SEO, the various factors that affect ranking, and practical tips you can put to use immediately.
Let’s get started.
Amazon’s Algorithm: A10 Basics
When an Amazon user enters a search term, how does Amazon decide which results to display? After all, there are millions of product pages, and many of them offer the same or similar products.
The answer is Amazon’s A10 algorithm, which is an algorithm that executes the retail giant’s ranking and search functions. Since most potential customers won’t go beyond the first page, it’s important for your listing to rank as high up on the first page as possible.
Just like Google, the inner workings of Amazon’s A10 algorithm are kept secret. However, we do know enough about it to formulate general guidelines that can help with your rankings.
A10 takes into account factors like a product’s sales history, reviews, price, and availability. Additionally, Amazon also considers each product’s click-through and conversion rates.
Let’s take a closer look at these factors in the next section.
Ranking Factors for Amazon SEO
Sales History
Your sales history matters to Amazon. If you sell products consistently, you’ll rank higher on the platform.
Authority
The A10 algorithm uses the seller’s authority to determine where they place in its rankings. This term refers to certain performance metrics that include how highly previous customers rated your product, how much activity your account has on the platform, your inventory levels, fulfillment methods, and how long your account has been in existence.
Amazon believes that the longer you’ve had an account with them, the wider your product catalog and the better your experience will be in terms of order fulfillment and customer concerns.
A larger inventory coupled with positive feedback tells Amazon that you offer high-quality and valuable products, which results in your seller authority ranking higher, based on their algorithm.
Organic Sales
Any sale that originates from Amazon’s organic search results can positively influence its algorithm. An organic sale happens when a user searches for something on Amazon and then buys your product by following the listing on the platform’s search results.
Amazon highly values organic sales, which is why this is part of its algorithm.
Impressions
When a product appears organically on Amazon’s search results, this is considered an impression. The number of impressions refers to the number of times a page is displayed in the results, even if the user didn’t click on the link.
Impressions matter because they give products more views, whether on the site or through other partner sites. Each impression might not result in a sale, but it still creates awareness, which is a valuable part of the Amazon sales funnel.
Internal Sales
In contrast to organic sales, internal sales happen without the aid of Amazon’s search engine. Products aren’t found via the e-commerce platform’s search engine results pages (SERPs).
A great example of internal sales is when a product is seen and sold from the “frequently bought together” section.
Two factors influence one’s internal sales:
Conversion Rate
This is the ratio of customers who see your product page compared with the number of customers who buy your products. The higher the conversion rate, the higher the ranking.
Off-site Sales
Off-site sales happen when your product is found through another site or ad that isn’t on Amazon. For example, a buyer may have seen a Facebook ad you were running and found your product listing there.
Click-through Rate (CTR)
After seeing your ad on SERPs, how many users actually click on the link?
Your click-through rate measures this valuable information. Higher CTRs lead to higher rankings. To help achieve a higher CTR, it’s important to include compelling main images and a strong title.
Putting it All Together: How to Rank Higher
Now that we’ve gotten a good idea of how A10 works and how it is impacted, let’s proceed with actionable steps you can take.
Do your research so you understand how Amazon’s search engine works.
Amazon’s search engine is different from other search engines, so it’s important to understand how it works before trying to optimize your listings.
Use relevant keywords in your listing titles and product descriptions.
The title and product description are two of the most important fields for keywords, so make sure you incorporate them in a way that makes sense for your product.
One way to do this is by performing a keyword search and optimizing your product listing based on the top results. There are also special tools that can help you with keyword searches, such as AMZScout.
One good example of a good product listing on Amazon is Opux Lunchboxes. Let’s take a look at its descriptive product title:
“OPUX Premium Insulated Lunch Box | Soft Leakproof School Lunch Bag for Kids, Boys, Girls | Thermal Reusable Work Lunch Pail Cooler for Adult Men, Women, Office Fits 6 Cans (Heather Navy)”
Even though this description is lengthy, it also highlights the product’s most important features and describes the product specifically. It also uses “kids” and other related words for “lunch box.”
The images are also interesting and informative, showing viewers the variety of colors it comes in along with its capacity and size. Additional images also give viewers closeups and details. By doing so, customers will have a better idea of this item’s quality, size, and functionality.
The bullet points further highlight the unique selling points of the product and provide a clear description.
Use high-quality, clear images from several angles.
Customers often base their decisions on the images they see, so make sure yours are able to give buyers the best impression of your product. In the above example, the alternate images aren’t just the same image that has been edited to show the different variants (which some sellers do). You can clearly see that they’re the actual products.
The other images suggest different ways to use the product. For example, they show the product from different angles with close-up shots of interesting features.
Focus on generating authentic positive reviews.
Positive customer reviews help increase your ranking, so always add customer reviews to a product page. Amazon’s “Request a Review” is an easy way to ask users for customer feedback within 30 days of their sale.
Improve your Clicks and Bounce Rate.
In order to rank higher on Amazon, you’ll need a high click-through rate and a low bounce rate.
CTR refers to the percentage of people who click on your listing when it appears in search results.
Your bounce rate is the percentage of people who click on your listing and immediately leave the site.
Ideally, you want a high CTR and a low bounce rate. What can you do to improve your score in these areas?
You can improve CTR by using high-quality and helpful images. Pair them with compelling product descriptions and listings. A combination of all three will draw customers to your page when they see your product in search results.
There are many ways to reduce your bounce rate, but before you do anything, you need to know what’s causing people to leave your page so quickly. When it comes to Amazon, one of the most common reasons is price.
Make sure your prices are competitive. When people see an interesting product, they’ll click on it and go to the product page. The first thing they’ll look for is the price. If it’s priced way above market rates, they won’t bother looking at product descriptions, photos, or any other elements.
Conclusion For amazon sEO
Setting up a page on Amazon and posting your products is the easy part. (Read here to learn more about this step.) Getting people to notice your products and drive traffic to your listings is where the process becomes more challenging.
With this handy guide, you can begin optimizing your pages and enhance your competitive edge on Amazon. Happy selling!
